When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
Psalm 78 recounts the rich blessings God bestowed on His people and their poor returns and poor response to those benefits. Its immediate setting is that Israel despised the angels' food that would have preserved health and lusted for meat, so God gave them their desire and then in wrath slew the fattest of them and smote down the chosen men. When He slew them with punishment and judgments bringing death, then they sought Him and returned and enquired early and earnestly after God, remembering that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer.
Their seeking was repentance under rebuke and chastisement brought as the sure result of their own disobedience, prompted by affliction rather than sincere devotion. It came after they constantly worked against a good God in continued sin and unbelief for His wondrous works, for which their days were consumed in vanity and their years in trouble. Their return was insincere and not steadfast, for they flattered Him with their mouth and lied with their tongues, their heart was not right with Him and they were not steadfast in His covenant. After repenting they fell again under temptation, self-indulgence and self-gratification, and in trial they complained and forgot God as the source of their strength instead of holding fast to Him.
Even so, being full of compassion and remembering their human frailty, He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them, many times turning His anger away and not stirring up all His wrath. By contrast, those who have Bible religion, abiding in Christ and Christ in them, connected with the source of all wisdom and power and sanctified through heavenly truth, will continually advance in the divine life and will not complain and forget God when trials come. The chapter's account of God's wilderness dealings, including punishment, is to be remembered and attentively heeded for reproof and correction, as in the call for Kellogg to learn from it by turning from reliance on lawyers to harmony with the church and ministers.
The verse is worthy of earnest consideration because a solemn work is before God's people who should be far in advance in understanding eternal realities. It calls them to become fishers of men, to arouse to duty in explaining the truths of the Word to those who do not know them, and to begin earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for those perishing in sins. Those who sow seeds of truth will reap a rich harvest whose good from unselfish effort no human mind can estimate.
Psalm 78 recounts the rich blessings God bestowed on His people and their poor returns and poor response to those benefits. Its immediate setting is that Israel despised the angels' food that would have preserved health and lusted for meat, so God gave them their desire and then in wrath slew the fattest of them and smote down the chosen men. When He slew them with punishment and judgments bringing death, then they sought Him and returned and enquired early and earnestly after God, remembering that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer.
Their seeking was repentance under rebuke and chastisement brought as the sure result of their own disobedience, prompted by affliction rather than sincere devotion. It came after they constantly worked against a good God in continued sin and unbelief for His wondrous works, for which their days were consumed in vanity and their years in trouble. Their return was insincere and not steadfast, for they flattered Him with their mouth and lied with their tongues, their heart was not right with Him and they were not steadfast in His covenant. After repenting they fell again under temptation, self-indulgence and self-gratification, and in trial they complained and forgot God as the source of their strength instead of holding fast to Him.
Even so, being full of compassion and remembering their human frailty, He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them, many times turning His anger away and not stirring up all His wrath. By contrast, those who have Bible religion, abiding in Christ and Christ in them, connected with the source of all wisdom and power and sanctified through heavenly truth, will continually advance in the divine life and will not complain and forget God when trials come. The chapter's account of God's wilderness dealings, including punishment, is to be remembered and attentively heeded for reproof and correction, as in the call for Kellogg to learn from it by turning from reliance on lawyers to harmony with the church and ministers.
The verse is worthy of earnest consideration because a solemn work is before God's people who should be far in advance in understanding eternal realities. It calls them to become fishers of men, to arouse to duty in explaining the truths of the Word to those who do not know them, and to begin earnest, self-sacrificing efforts for those perishing in sins. Those who sow seeds of truth will reap a rich harvest whose good from unselfish effort no human mind can estimate.